Consultations to Name PM to be Held 'Thursday', Govt. Won't be 'Confrontational'

The binding parliamentary consultations to name a new premier will be held on Thursday and the new government will not be a “confrontation government,” Baabda sources said on Tuesday.

“We will seek to agree with caretaker PM Saad Hariri on an alternative candidate and we prefer this option, or else we will go to parliamentary consultations and we are holding talks over several candidates,” the sources told LBCI television.

“The government will not be a confrontation government -- except against corruption and the economic and social crises. It will not be a confrontation government against PM Saad Hariri or against the international community and it will not be one-sided,” the sources added.

“The government will be in charge of major files and it will be a salvation, reformist government,” the sources said.

The remarks come shortly after Hariri issued a statement in which he openly announced that he does not want to head the new government.

The Baabda sources did not express relief over Hariri’s statement but said they were still hoping that the caretaker PM “will facilitate the mission of finding a candidate to replace him.”

As for the international community’s response to the formation of a government not led by Hariri, the sources said: “There is international consent on the formation of a techno-political government not led by Saad Hariri.”

“Their main concern is Lebanon’s economic, security and political stability,” the sources added.

The privately-owned Central News Agency meanwhile said that the engineer Samir Khatib, the director general of the Khatib & Alami engineering firm, could be nominated for the premiership.

OTV meanwhile reported that contacts will be intensified over the next 36 hours to reach an agreement on a candidate.

Prominent ministerial source meanwhile told MTV that “there is no agreement so far on a premiership candidate” and that Hariri's statement “increases the ambiguity of the situation.”

The TV network also said that President Michel Aoun will not officially call for the consultations on Tuesday.